Europe Today: WHO says Siberia plague risk is low as drones sink Black Sea ships

Good morning, it is Wednesday the 7th of October. I'm Maeve McMahon and this is Europe Today, your daily dose of European news and analysis, live here on Euronews. Coming up, today marks three years since the October 7th Hamas brutal terror attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis and 251 hostages were also taken by Palestinian militants. Over 73,000 Palestinians have since lost their life in the Israel war on Hamas. We'll speak to the Israel ambassador to France. Meanwhile, German intelligence rocked by a major spy scandal. The former BND chief August Halling has been arrested on suspicion of treason and espionage, accused of hoarding thousands of classified files and leaking state secrets. Prosecutors say it's one of the most explosive security breaches in the country's modern history. Plus, a twist in Spanish politics. Spain's Supreme Court has officially lifted the national arrest warrant for exiled Catalan separatist leader Carlos Puigdemont, clearing the path for his return nearly nine years after fleeing. The move comes hot on the heels of Pedro Sanchez's snap election announcement for the end of November. But first, the World Health Organization says the risk of a new plague epidemic is low, following the sudden death of a lab technician in Siberia. Hundreds remain under medical observation and European health authorities are on alert. The Commission and Member States will be holding last-minute talks this morning on the matter. For more, we're joined now by the well-known Belgian virologist Mark van Rant. Good morning, Mark. Nice to have you with us. So how worried should people be about this plague, if at all? I mean, Russian secrecy means we don't really know how serious the threat is. We don't know. But we have to assume that this is either an isolated incident or even a non-incident. And I'm always surprised when something happens in Russia, it becomes news. But this happens very frequently in DRC in Congo and in Madagascar. We have hundreds of cases every year of plague. And people are always surprised. They think it's something medieval, something very special. Of course, here it's lab-associated that makes it a little bit more serious, I guess. And it brings back memories of COVID. People are worried to escape from the lab, right? We have now people, a population that has been trained in microbiology for a couple of years. They're more interested in everything that has to do with microbes. And of course, they're going to be attuned to these stories and be worried. So what should the EU be doing this morning? What would you be advising EU officials as they sit down this morning? Try to get as much information as they can. That's what they're doing. WHO is doing, the Trump administration is doing this. Everybody is asking questions to the Russian government. They're probably not going to answer it truthfully, I guess. But then, with every day that passes, when no secondary cases appear, and if they would appear, it probably would be known, we can be more certain that this is either an old incident or something very small and under control. Okay, so that's some relief, I guess, for our viewers this morning. But what about COVID? COVID seems to be back. Many people have COVID. Should we all be going out getting boosters? Should we be isolating if we get COVID? During the summer months, there was very little COVID. I even thought, okay, maybe it's disappearing. It has not disappeared. It is back, but it is back under the mild form, milder form of Omicron. That is the type of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID that is appearing now everywhere in Europe. But we have antibodies against it. This is extremely contagious, which means that all of us have had it probably multiple times. And many of us, they have received vaccines in the past years. So we're doing okay against Omicron. So this might be the period of the year, as it is for many other respiratory viruses, that they appear, and then they will reach a peak and go away again. But nothing, there is really no evidence at all that this will be 2020 or 2021 revisited. This is not going to happen. This will be a mild epidemic at best. Okay, lots of good news this morning from Mark Ronrans. Thank you so much for joining us here in the studio. But now moving on today marks three years since the October 7th attacks by Hamas, a day that shocked Israel and the world. Meanwhile, the war on Hamas in Gaza continues to produce a human tragedy with thousands dead and no clear path to peace. At the parliament in Strasbourg, tensions erupted with one French MEP of Palestinian and Kurdish origin accused of kicking an Israeli flag to the ground. Rima Hassan denies throwing the flag and says she actually just removed it from its stand. Taking to X, she said, my gesture is part of the denunciation of the ongoing genocide, of violations of international law, and of this incessant and unbearable double standard. She said a Russian flag would never be admitted. After that incident, Israel's ambassador to France, that's Joshua Zarca, told our Europe editor, Maria Taddeo, that the episode reflects rising anti-Semitism in France. I cannot understand how a person that aims to be a politician, that aims to represent the public, can be so violent and disrespectful of the death of thousands of people that has been caused by the same cause that she's trying to help. The head of the European Parliament is saying this is unacceptable and she takes this extremely serious. From your part as the Israeli ambassador to France, will you ask for the European Parliament to put forward more sanctions? Will you ask the French government to take action once the details are clarified? You know, Mrs. Rima Hassan, the member of parliament that kicked down the flags, is accused of support to terrorism. She's supposed to appear before court in the next few days. This is a person that has been extremely active in her anti-Zionism and her anti-Semitism, in the support of terrorism. She openly supports Hamas. She openly supports what Hamas did on October 7th. This is a terrible person, let's be clear. And I think that she's perceived to be a terrible person by the largest part of the French politics. So it's not that I need to convince anybody that that's the case. And she's also supporting openly terrorism in her statements and in the support that she gave to terrorist acts that took place in Israel in the past. So she's a terrible person, let's be clear about that. I do want to clarify, there is an ongoing legal process but she has denied she supported or expressed an apology of terrorism. Of course, that case will continue its path. But specifically though, given that this incident took place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, will you escalate this matter to French authorities? Will you ask for this to be investigated as hate, anti-Semitism? This is an issue that has been dealt with by the European Parliament. In our division of labour, our embassy to Brussels, the embassy to the European Union, is the one in charge of following this issue. And to the best of my understanding, there is a very close dialogue between our embassy and the President of the European Parliament concerning this issue with the purpose of making sure that something like that will never happen again, and that Mrs. Reema Hassan faces the charges she needs to face. But you say all anti-Semitism is unacceptable. I have to ask you about the allegations that have appeared in the French press that Jordan Bardella, the right-hand man of Marine Le Pen, made anti-Semitic comments when he was 17. Some of these comments include, Do you see that also is equally worrying? Of course. Any type of anti-Semitism, any statement, any type of a statement, act, anyway, is unacceptable and is comprehensible. Now, the question is, as you said, these are allegations and we are following very closely. And we will make, or we will react to it once it is clear that these allegations are true, or if not, then we react otherwise. For the time being, we reserve our response. We have an issue. There is an issue of anti-Semitism in France. There is an issue of anti-Semitism in Europe. Unfortunately, the raise of anti-Semitism has happened significantly after October 7th. But there is one party who is openly, in France, openly anti-Semitic, and that's LFE. And the leader of that party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is copying the mimics of leaders that were active in Europe in the 30s of the last centuries. So are you making a comparison also to Nazism and Hitler? Would you say that this gentleman acts like Hitler did in the 30s? I've said that publicly in the past already, yes. Now, moving on to the Black Sea, which has become a battlefield of late, with drone incursions off both Romania and Bulgaria's coast, resulting in fiery blazes, sunken ships, and loss of life. For more, we can bring in now our defence correspondent, Angela Skujins. Good morning, Angela. Just tell us more about the recent instance. Yes, good morning, Maeve. So the latest incursion that we saw occurred yesterday, roughly 130 kilometres off Bulgaria's coast in the early hours. Two commercial vessels were attacked by sea and aerial drones. One suffered significant damage and sank on the spot. The other caught fire. Thankfully, no-one was significantly injured and no-one died in this incursion. Now, Bulgaria, of course, is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, as well as the European Union. The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, came out with strong words yesterday, stating that Brussels stands in support with countries on Europe's eastern flank and attacks on civilian shipping are simply unacceptable. We also heard similar rhetoric coming out of Sofia from Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Rumin Radov. He didn't mince words when he decried this incident that occurred yesterday following an emergency meeting. Let's take a listen to what he had to say. This is an absolutely unacceptable attack within Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone. It is a flagrant violation of international law and maritime norms, further disrupting shipping in the Black Sea, driving insurance costs even higher and making navigation increasingly difficult. The thing is, this is not the first incursion, right? Certainly not. And not only is it not the first incursion in the Black Sea, but also along Europe's eastern flank. Now, we've got a little map here. Let's take a look. There have been three major incursions of late. Of course, there was this recent incident in Bulgaria. The day before that, on Monday, we saw an incident off Romania's coast. And on the 20th of August, there was a similar incident off Romania's coast once again. But let's take a look at Monday because this was a significant escalation when it comes to alleged hybrid warfare, if we can even call it that anymore. A cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain operated by Turkish authorities caught fire, was attacked by drones and sank. As a result, two people died in this incursion and scores were injured. Of course, there was that other incident on the 20th of August in Romania too, where an explosive-laden drone was shot down by fighter jets. Now, this really shows an escalation of behaviour and a pattern, but we also need to look at blame. So Romania has been quite clear in attributing blame to Moscow, but they've stated that these are merely what happens as a by-product of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The rhetoric has been significantly toned down to what we saw in Berlin with that Leipzig drone incident. However, Bulgaria hasn't said the same things when it comes to who's to blame. My understanding is that they're still investigating this drone incursion that occurred on Tuesday. But I guess the bigger question is, Maeve, how much the European Union as well as NATO can stomach when it comes to these incidents which have resulted in two people dying as well as what they can do. We know the European Union is working on an anti-hybrid warfare playbook, but whether these incidents even fall within the remit of hybrid warfare is yet to be seen and what they can really do to counter these incursions. It's also my understanding that Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are working with the machinations of NATO to bolster security in the Black Sea too. So civilian vessels can do their jobs and bring grain to Europe as well as the Middle East and Africa. Okay, Angela Scudans, thank you so much for your report there. And now we can move on as EU ambassadors are close to finalising about 1,650 new additions to the sanctions list against Russia. This comes less than a month after Alisher Usmanov, often dubbed one of Putin's favourite billionaires, and Michel Friedman, a banking magnate, were controversially dropped from the lists after pressure from France and Slovakia. For more, we can head now to Strasbourg where the human rights activist Bill Browder joins us this morning. Good morning, Bill. Thank you so much for joining us. Has the EU just shown that its sanctions regime can be cracked by political backroom deals, do you think? Absolutely, and I think that this is a shameful decision to let these two guys off the sanctions list. And I think it's actually a dangerous decision, particularly in the case of Alisher Usmanov. Here you have a situation where he was effectively taken off the sanctions list because a hostage was swapped for him from Azerbaijan. And so what does this say to other Russian oligarchs who continue to be on the sanctions list? They can encourage other countries to take hostages to put into this type of negotiation. The fact that these types of backroom deals, these dirty deals are possible, really puts a very dark cloud over the whole sanctions programme. That's the thing, Bill. Do you fear a precedent now is set after this saga? A very bad precedent has been set. So imagine that you're one of these other thousands of oligarchs sitting in Russia. And I should point out that all these oligarchs, these sanctions hang over their head. It's the worst thing that could happen to them. Every single one of them is scheming and trying to come up with ways of getting off the sanctions list. They've now seen these two different things. One, a very nasty legal fight against the Luxembourg authorities. And the second is this whole hostage negotiation with the Azeris. And these other oligarchs are going to be saying, this is a precedent. This is something we can do. The Europeans will blink. And therefore, we're going to try to use these same things to get off the sanctions list. Now, there is one saving grace in the whole situation, which is that the current sanctions list has now been renewed for three years, which means that there's a bit of time, three years of time before we come up with another one of these moments of weakness. But it really is a terrible thing at the same time that we have Russia bombing civilians on a daily basis in Kiev and other cities around Ukraine. Well, that's the thing. And you know Russia well. You know how Putin ticks. Do you think he's feeling any pressure from his inner circle? Putin doesn't feel pressure from anything at the moment. The only way that this war will stop is not because people inside Russia are going to put pressure on him. There's no politics. There's no civil society. The way that this war will stop is if Ukraine inflicts enough economic damage on Russia that they cannot afford to continue this war. And the only way that's possible is if the West continues to support Ukraine militarily and if the West were to get tough on Russia as far as oil sanctions. We haven't done that yet. And we give Russia, I should say, we give Ukraine enough to fend off Russia to some extent, but not to the extent necessary to get Putin to back down. So would you argue, Bill, the sanctions, the EU sanctions are just not working? Because as you say, the war is still very much ongoing. Ukraine facing its fifth winter of war. And it's actually worse than ever. Well, I'm not saying the sanctions aren't working. I'm saying sanctions are certainly putting pressure on Putin. But Putin is ready to starve his whole country completely in order to keep the war going. If the war were to stop, Putin would effectively lose power. And if he loses power, he would lose his life. And so he's ready to make unbelievable sacrifices. But at the same time, the sanctions are working in the sense that it's grinding Russia down. It's causing Russia economic damage. We're seeing the refining capacity of Russia declined by somewhere between 20 and 40%. We're seeing inflation going up. We're seeing all sorts of stuff. But at the end of the day, sanctions aren't stopping the war because Putin is ready to suck up his gut and deal with the pressure. And so what I'm saying is that there should be more sanctions, not less sanctions, in order to try to put Putin in a position where he just can't physically afford to carry on the war. And just finally, Bill, you find yourself in Strasbourg at the European Parliament in Strasbourg this morning. You've been meeting with the likes of Kayakalis. Is your message getting through to them? Well, I'm speaking to, I should say, I'm pushing on an open door at the European Parliament. And certainly with the officials of the European Commission, I think everybody here believes that Ukraine should be supported, that Russia is the villain and we need to do more. It's obviously complicated because we also have these situations like what we just started this conversation with, with France putting pressure on the European Union to take Ousmane off the sanctions list because of backroom deals. But at the end of the day, there's a lot of people here, most people here, almost everybody here supports Ukraine, which is certainly hardening. Okay, Bill Brider, speaking just there from the European Parliament in Strasbourg, thank you so much for joining us. And that brings this edition of Europe Today to an end. As always, you can read more about all the stories we're covering on euronews.com or you can drop us a line, eurotoday at euronews.com. That is our email address. But for now, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, take care and stay with us here on Euronews.